The Three Gorges Dam in China became fully operational this week, and like so many structures before it, it’s a brilliant feat of engineering

The final 32 generators of the Three Gorges Dam in China became operational last week. Its construction may have been beset with controversy, but the huge structure is nothing if not spectacular.

The dam - built on the Yangtze River and designed to reduce the risk of flooding during the peak rainfall season - is the world's largest hydropower project.

Working at full capacity, the dam creates as much energy as 15 nuclear power stations, from water power alone.

The Three Gorges Dam is a monumental act of human engineering, and to celebrate that, here are ten more, unsurpassed in ingenuity or scale.